Step registering device.



PATENTED DEC. 12, 1905.

J. A. UAIRNDUPF. STEP REGISTERING DEVICE.

APPLIOATION FILED MAR.6, 1905.

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UNITED STATES PATENT oFFIoE.

STEP REGISTERING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 12, 1905.

Application filed March 6, 1905. Serial No. 248,607.

To a whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN A. OAIRNDUFF, of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Step Registering Devices, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in step registering devices in which a movable tread or step is connected to operate a suitable registering device for the purpose of registering the number of persons entering or leaving a place.

The device is particularly applicable for use on street-cars and in the entrances of theaters and other public places where entrance-fees are charged to register the number of persons entered, and thereby placing a check upon the collector of fees to prevent peculation or fraudulent reports by the authorized attendant.

The special object, therefore, is to enable the management or others to whom the fares or entrance-fees properly belong to obtain an approximately accurate account of the number of persons entering the car, theater, or similar place where entrance fees or fares are required, so as to reduce as far as possible the losses incidental to the peculations of dishonest employees.

Another object is to provide the sight-opening of the counter with a suitable closure which is normally locked in its closed position and is only capable of being opened by a trusted authorized oflicial, so that the conductor or collector of fares or fees may not be able to read the counter and afterward check up the report to correspond with said counter. a

In other words, the broad object is to provide an automatic registering device actuated by a verticallymovable centrally balanced step or tread to place a check upon the collections and reports of conductors or other farecollectors.

A still further object is to provide a second counter, which is brought into action by the opening of the closure of the first counter, whereby the management may readily detect any interference with the main registering device.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a top plane View of a movable step or treadsuch, for instance, as the step of a car. Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on line 2 2, Fig. 1, showing in addition the counting device. face view of the counter.

A represents a movable step or tread, which may be a car-step or may be a movable tread at the entrance of a theater or other public place and is usually made of such dimensions as to accommodate a single individual at a time. This tread is movable vertically and is shown as centrally balanced upon a yielding support, as a spring 1, which is seated in a socket 2 of a fixed hub B, having radial supporting-arms 3, the ends of which are secured to suitable supporting-brackets 4: by clamping-bolts 5. One condition, however, of this support is that its upper face inclines downwardly and outwardly from the upper face of the hub B, in which the spring 1 is seated, to allow for a slight tilting movement of the ends of the step for a purpose hereinafter described. The spring 1 rests upon the bottom of the socket 2 and projects some distance above the upper face of said socket, and the step A is supported centrally upon the upper end of the spring 1, with its lower face some distance above the top face of the hub B and arms 3 to allow sufficient movement to operate a counter, as 6.

The step A is of slightly greater dimensions than the underlying supporting-frame, consisting of the hub B and arms 3, and is provided with a central depending stud 7, which is operatively connected to move an operating-arm 8 of the counter 6, so that at each depression or elevation of the step or tread A the counter 6, which may be of any well-known construction, is caused to register once-'that is, as each individual in passing into a car steps upon the tread A it is depressed against the action of a spring 1, thereby depressing the depending arm 7 and actuating the arm 8 to operate the counter 6 one point.

The opposite ends of the tread A are provided with apertures 9 for receiving the upper ends of the bolts or studs 5, which are provided with heads 10, engaged with the top face of the tread A, and the ends of this tread are held in engagement with the heads 10 by the pressure of the spring 1, so that if a person should step upon the end of the tread at one side of the spring this end of the tread would be depressed away from the adjacent head or abutment 10, While the opposite end of the tread will be held from upward tilting Fig. 3 is a by the adjacent abutment 10, which forms practically a fulcrum upon which the step or tread swings, the outwardly-inclining upper faces of the arms 3 permitting this tilting movement of the tread. In either case, whether the individual steps upon the center of the tread or upon one end, the tread is depressed and actuates the arm 8 to operate the counter 6 one point each depression. This counter 6 is provided with a sight-opening 12,

through which the numbers of the different wheels, as 13, are visible. This sight-opening is normally closed by a sliding closure 14 and is connected by links 15 to the movable elements of a second counter 16, similar but smaller than the counter 6, whereby when the closure 14 is opened the counter 16 is caused to register one operation. The primary object of this second counter 16 is to enable the proper official who has authority to unlock the closure 14 to detect any tampering or interference with the main counter 6. The closure 14 is preferably locked in its closed position by any key locking means-as, for instance, a padlock 17, Fig. 3-although any other key-lock will answer the same purpose.

In operation, assuming that the device is to be used as a car-step, each passenger stepping upon the movable tread A depresses the same against the action of the spring 1, and thereby actuates the counter 6 through the medium of the plunger 7 and arm 8, the counting operation taking place either on the downward movement of the tread A or upon its upward movement, as may be desired.

The counter 6 may be of any well-known construction whereby successive registrations are made to indicate the total number of depressions made by the tread A; The smaller counter 16 is operated by the opening of the closure 14 and merely serves to detect any attempt to interfere with the recorder 6.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is*

1. In a step registering device, the combination of a hub having a socket, arms projecting horizontally from the hub in a plane below the top face of the hub, a spring seated in said socket and projecting some distance above the upper face of the hub, a tread centrally supported and balanced on the upper end of the spring to overhang said arms and provided with apertures in its ends, bolts projecting upwardly from the ends of said arms through said apertures and provided with heads forming limiting-stops engaging the top face of the tread, a plunger depending from the lower side of the tread through the spring and bottom of the hub, and a counting device connected to and actuated by said plunger.

2. In a step registering device, the combination of a supporting-frame having a central socket and upwardly projecting studs arranged equidistant from and-at opposite sides of the socket, a coil-spring seated in and projecting some distance above the upper end of the socket, a tread centrally balanced on the upper end of the spring and provided with a central depending plunger projecting through the bottom of the socket, heads on the upper ends of the studs forming limiting-stops engaging the top face of the tread, the spring being tensioned to normally press the tread upwardly against said heads, and a counting device actuated by the plunger when the tread is depressed.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 18th day of Eebruary, 1905.

JOHN A. CAIRNDUFF. Witnesses:

RUTH NEAL, MILES MoNEcu. 

